Wednesday, May 2, 2012

WaPo: Carmona vs. Flake

Posted By on Wed, May 2, 2012 at 12:00 PM

The Washington Post examines a likely Senate race between Richard Carmona and Jeff Flake:

Carmona has yet to leap a tall building in a single bound, but Democrats here are counting on him to provide some political heroics: They’re hoping Carmona will not just take a Republican seat but also give President Obama the boost he needs to win Arizona, the one red state his campaign thinks can be turned blue this year.

“The perspective out here is if a group of consultants got together in a room and wanted to build a perfect candidate, we’d come out with Carmona,” said Bob Grossfeld, an Arizona Democratic strategist.

Barry Dill, another Democratic consultant in Arizona, said, “Him having a Hispanic surname, being Hispanic himself, speaking fluent Spanish — I think some of us Democrats are thinking that he may have more coattails for the president than the president may have for Dr. Carmona.”


Republican rival Jeff Flake tells the Post he would be delighted to have Carmona campaigning with Obama:

His likely GOP opponent is Rep. Jeff Flake, a six-term member of Congress whose strategy suggests that he will run against both Carmona and Obama.

“For Richard Carmona, having the president’s support — that’s nothing I would want to tout very loudly,” Flake said in an interview after a recent town hall meeting in Fountain Hills, a suburb about 30 miles outside Phoenix.

He added with a laugh: “I would welcome the president to come here and campaign with my opponent.”

I take a look at the Obama campaign's push in Arizona and the Carmona campaign in this week's print edition, which is just hitting the street.